I got halfway through the first draft of The Library at Eventide last summer and gave up.
It was too much of a downer.
One of the main character’s parents passed away. The world was post-apocalyptic. The other main character was struggling with a chronic illness. There was a heavy, unpleasant feeling of sadness and failure throughout the manuscript (and, let’s be honest, throughout the author).
This was supposed to be a cozy fantasy. So far, it was anything but. So I stopped where I was, revisited the outline and had a think. Then I came up with something I call the ‘cozimeter.’ Simply put, it was the idea that each chapter should have at least one cozy set-piece; a scene where characters enjoy typical cozy stuff that is more than a passing mention.
A passing mention might be something like ‘the wizard served cups of piping-hot elderberry tea, and then everyone got down to business.’ A scene is at least a page long, and is written to instill the feeling of coziness in the reader. Some cozy scenes for characters might be:
- A warm, companionable meal together.
- Exploring a cozy environment (like a library or lake).
- Doing a cozy activity (stargazing, cooking together, dancing).
- Attending a cozy event (a festival).
So I went back through my outline, and made ‘Cozimeter:’ notes, ensuring that each chapter would have at least one cozy scene. That definitely helped liven up the proceedings, and also made sure that I kept the idea of coziness front-of-mind as I rewrote and revised.
There were also larger plot problems having to with sad bits, which I ended up removing (the parent’s death) or revising completely (encountering a greedy scientist out to undermine one of the main characters – I made him altruistic, but with goals that happened to oppose the character instead).
If you’re working on a cozy piece, why not try the Cozimeter?